Watch a story by CBS’s 60 Minutes on Chiquita’s payments to armed groups in Colombia.
Chiquita paid Colombian armed groups millions of dollars over 15 years. An estimated 14,000 innocent civilians were killed. Chiquita’s only punishment? A sweetheart deal with the Justice Department. No compensation for victims. No accountability for Chiquita officials who made the payments.
Chiquita has admitted making more than 100 payments to Colombian paramilitaries totaling at least $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004. The company has also acknowledged making payments to the Colombian guerrillas, believed to oscillate between $20,000 and $100,000 per month from 1989 to 1997.
Chiquita made half of the payments to the paramilitaries, totaling $825,000, after they were designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government in 2001.
Yet no officials from Chiquita were prosecuted after a sweetheart deal with the Justice Department required the company only pay a $25 million fine.
